“Good.” Eliza sighed, long and low. “He’s so hot.”
“And ten years older than you are.”
“I don’t care, he’s a gorgeous man.”
“Who has a girlfriend.” Eden wagged a finger Eliza’s way, and I got the feeling they’d been through this before.
Eliza smiled like a perfect saint. “You’ll never know in the pictures of us together.”
“It’s not prom, we’re not doing couples’ poses after.”
“Just let me have this, okay? Asmygroomsman, he’s legally obligated to dance with me during the second song, and I’m going to make the most out of that dance.”
Oh. I hadn’t thought about my obligatory dance with Ty. How would that even go? Maybe he’d hold me close on the dance floor, his big, strong hands wrapped around mine, swaying in time to the music. I’d lean in and put my head on his shoulder. His hand at the small of my back would pull me close... My stomach did a little swoop just picturing it. But I refused to indulge in the stomach-swooping, imagining instead the scowl he’d have plastered on his face the whole time.
“I don’t care who you pair me with,” Harper said. “I’m just looking forward to talking to a man under seventy, for a change.”
Chloe cocked an eyebrow. “You what now?”
Harper waved a hand. “I’m a physical therapist.”
“You’re the one who chose to work in a retirement home,” Eliza said. “You should have gone into sports therapy. You could be rubbing down sweaty athletes instead of wrinkly grandpas.”
“I didn’t choose my job for the dating opportunities. Anyway, you make soap. What kind of men are you meeting?”
Eliza grinned. “Dirty ones.”
Chloe and Eliza roared with laughter, but Eden looked like she struggled not to roll her eyes. She probably would have had a better sense of humor over the whole thing if it weren’t her baby sister making all the off-color jokes.
She turned to me. “How’s Ty doing? I hope he’ll be up for all the excitement next week.”
I wore my own little scowl, well aware it echoed Ty’s usual look. “He’d never let on if he wasn’t.”
“Why?” Harper asked, looking from Eden to me. “What happened to Ty?”
Everyone’s eyes fell on me, waiting for me to spill the juicy gossip. Ty would hate having anything said about him behind his back, especially something about his injury—but he wasn’t keeping it secret, either. Eden had left me too close to the edge to just refuse to elaborate.Nothingwould be a blatant lie, and they would all find out at the rehearsal dinner, anyway.
“Ty got kicked by one of his horses. He’s got a couple of broken ribs.”
“No way,” Eliza said. “I’m surprised his bones can break, he’s so—” She mimed caressing something in front of her. “Hard.”
Chloe made a sound of savoring something delicious. “I had such a crush on him growing up. He was cute when he was younger, but good Lord, what a man.”
Something hot and greasy squirmed around in my stomach. Chloe was gorgeous, with rich dark skin, high cheekbones, and sexy hips, plus she was apparently a talented architect at a sought-after firm. She probably knew how to ride a horse, too.
I should not care who had a crush on Ty, or when. I should not.
But I so did.
Was it smart? Not a bit. Didn’t mean I could magically make the distress disappear.
“Half the town has a crush on him,” Harper said, heaping more awkwardness onto my secret discomfort. “Every time I see him in town, all the women get thirsty.”
“And a few of the men,” Eliza added.
“Too bad he’s married to his horses.”
Chloe’s dismissive tone immediately relieved the squirmy sensation in my stomach, yet also made me want to defend him from the mild insult. He didn’t deserve that kind of scorn for being dedicated to a job he loved. That ranch meant everything to him, and he worked damn hard out there, even when by all rights, he could have dialed his duties down to zero. Seeing his commitment to his business firsthand only made me admire him more.
